Paul H. Bradbury, P.E., is the Airport Director for our Portland International Jetport (PWM). He has served in several positions at the Portland International Jetport since August 1992. He was appointed to his current position of Airport Director in 2008. In this position, he is responsible for the overall management, operations, and planning for the Jetport. In 2020 he was named Director of the Year in the small airport category by Airport Experience News for his leadership during challenging times. Under his management, the Jetport saw a record of 2.44 million passengers in 2024.
The Jetport under Paul’s leadership completed the largest capital improvement program in its history. The program included the completion of a new parking garage, a 137,000 square foot terminal expansion, an aircraft deicing fluid capture facility, and the rehabilitation of the north/south runway.
These projects have placed PWM on the forefront of sustainable design. The terminal expansion was only the second terminal project in the country to receive the US Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification. The aircraft deicing fluid capture facility received the ACI-NA 2018 Environmental Achievement Award for Mitigation.
Paul is a licensed professional engineer with a B.S. in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. An avid runner and triathlete, having completed the Ironman at Lake Placid three times.
BITS AND PIECES | By Juliana L'Heureux
Co-President Laura Young opened the weekly meeting held at the Portland Elk’s. Gervin Kah led the Pledge of Allegiance.
REFLECT: On the occasion of Rotary International’s End Polio Now Day, being October 24th, Juliana L’Heureux read from Maine Nursing History, the first-person experience from Maine nursing leader Muriel Poulin. Muriel spoke of her career at Maine General Hospital during the 1950s polio epidemic. At that time, nurses taught medical students how to care for patients who were in iron lungs, where it was essential for the pressure inside the heavy medical device to be maintained for the purpose of keeping the lungs working. Hopefully, the infection subsided enough to allow for the lungs to begin working again. Challenging times on many levels.
WELCOME: Tim Donnellon introduced two Rotary guests: Welcome Joe Quinlan, guest of Tom Talbott and soon to be Rotary member guest of Ian Nagle, his siser Kathryn Nagle.
POLIO BRIDGE WALK: Co-President Laura said the Portland Rotary Bridge Walk with Portland Rotary, joined by District Governor Emma Bodwell and South Portland Cape Elizabeth Rotarians,held on October 16th , raised $300, including a contribution from her mother. Rotarians were asked to continue our support for End Polio Now by giving to the club’s designated fund for this purpose.
ROTARY MINUTE: A Rotary moment shared by Charlie Frair gave a Rotary moment, explaining how he values the wonderful networking and relationships he has enjoyed in Rotary while supporting charitable projects He was invited to join the Portland Rotary by Paul Gore. “We make a difference in our community. Working together, we accomplish so much good by leveraging our collective participation,” he said. Charlie will be spending the winter out west and aking a 25 day travel trip across the USA to his winter destination.
HEAR YE: Roger and Liz Fagan recently attended the Coalition For Global Hearing Health at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston. They say that they gathered some interesting and valuable information and insights to be applied to the Dominican and Kosovo projects. Great!
CARDS MISSING: The raffle was postponed until October 31, because the club’s equipment was in transit as a result of moving the meeting locations during the previous two weeks.
TAIL END: David Patterson let us know that we are down to the final days of our Lobster Raffle. At the meeting, David asked for additional volunteer help on the remaining sale dates, but by the time this Windjammer edition comes out the event will have concluded. Stay tuned for the final tally, the drawing of our two very lucky lobster winners, and of course the coronation of this year's Golden Deely Bopper Award, for the Rotarian who had the most volunteer days selling tickets!
The last day of sales was headed up by Dick Hall, Jim Willey, and Tom Talbott.
Find out this coming week if our efforts broke the $10,000 mark!
LAST WEEK'S SPEAKER: Jean Flahive, Historical Author
Introduced by Doreen Rockstrom, Jean Flahive began the presentation with a riveting 8 minute video, the story of Billy Laird.
In August 1862, William “Billy” Laird of Berwick joined the 17th Maine Regiment. A simple young man, and to some degree mentally challenged, he enlisted and served in the infantry along the Potomac guarding approaches to Washington. Transferred abruptly to Livingston’s Battery, he was separated from friends who had protected him from bullying. Distressed and confused, he left after two days, saying he was “going home.” He made it back to Maine, but was arrested months later for desertion, he was executed by firing squad at Fort Preble on July 16, 1863. Hours afterward, a telegram delaying the execution arrived too late—held up by the New York City draft riots.
Author Jean Flahive, who wrote Billy Boy, said the story has always carried a mystery about whether a presidential pardon was on the way. Her research found that Major General John E. Wool sent a telegram granting a 24-hour stay of execution, but it reached Fort Preble nine hours too late because the telegraph lines in New York were down during the riots. She believes that chaos may have cost Billy his life.
Flahive said that records from the time described Laird as “lacking in common intelligence” and “an imbecile man of intellect,” both old-fashioned ways of saying he was mentally disabled. She obtained his court-martial papers and other records from the National Archives, then built the story into a work of historical fiction to fill in the gaps.
When asked how she discovered the story, Flahive said her husband heard it years ago at the funeral of a Berwick veteran who had been compiling military histories. The tale stuck with her, and she felt compelled to write it. Billy Boy became her first book, now celebrating its twentieth year in print.
She also shared that a descendant of Private Henry Frost—the soldier who wrote about the execution—contacted her after decades of searching to identify “the soldier shot at Fort Preble.” The discovery finally linked the letter to Billy Laird.
When asked about the Laird family, Flahive said no confirmed descendants have been found, though one woman recently reached out who may be related. She ended by noting that Billy’s grave in Berwick has since been found and marked with a veteran’s stone and flag—finally giving a name, and some dignity, back to a forgotten young Mainer.
Photo: Doreen, Jean, and Laura.
Speaker Schedule
November 7 - Amy Angelo and Alice Evans, ME. Chapter Alzheimer's Assoc.
November 13- Club Social
November 14- No Meeting
November 21 - Fred Horch, Climate Change
November 28 - No Meeting "Happy Thanksgiving!"
December 5 - Important Club Assembly
December 19 - Jazz Music by Chris Kuchuris & Friends
Club Executives
Co-Presidents Bowen Depke, Laura Young President Elect Justin Lamontagne Vice President Jake Bourdeau TreasurerDick Hall Secretary Juliana L'Heureux Board of Directors Dick Hall, Patty Byers,
Art Howe, Niki Merrill, Bill Milliken, Bruce Moore
Sergeant-At-ArmsZach Newell
The Windjammer is published online by
The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine.
Paul H. Bradbury, P.E., is the Airport Director for our Portland International Jetport (PWM). He has served in several positions at the Portland International Jetport since August 1992. He was appointed to his current position of Airport Director in 2008. In this position, he is responsible for the overall management, operations, and planning for the Jetport. In 2020 he was named Director of the Year in the small airport category by Airport Experience News for his leadership during challenging times. Under his management, the Jetport saw a record of 2.44 million passengers in 2024.
REFLECT: On the occasion of Rotary International’s End Polio Now Day, being October 24th, Juliana L’Heureux read from Maine Nursing History, the first-person experience from Maine nursing leader Muriel Poulin. Muriel spoke of her career at Maine General Hospital during the 1950s polio epidemic. At that time, nurses taught medical students how to care for patients who were in iron lungs, where it was essential for the pressure inside the heavy medical device to be maintained for the purpose of keeping the lungs working. Hopefully, the infection subsided enough to allow for the lungs to begin working again. Challenging times on many levels. 
ROTARY MINUTE: A Rotary moment shared by Charlie Frair gave a Rotary moment, explaining how he values the wonderful networking and relationships he has enjoyed in Rotary while supporting charitable projects He was invited to join the Portland Rotary by Paul Gore. “We make a difference in our community. Working together, we accomplish so much good by leveraging our collective participation,” he said. Charlie will be spending the winter out west and aking a 25 day travel trip across the USA to his winter destination.
HEAR YE: Roger and Liz Fagan recently attended the Coalition For Global Hearing Health at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston. They say that they gathered some interesting and valuable information and insights to be applied to the Dominican and Kosovo projects. Great! 
TAIL END: David Patterson let us know that we are down to the final days of our Lobster Raffle. At the meeting, David asked for additional volunteer help on the remaining sale dates, but by the time this Windjammer edition comes out the event will have concluded. Stay tuned for the final tally, the drawing of our two very lucky lobster winners, and of course the coronation of this year's Golden Deely Bopper Award, for the Rotarian who had the most volunteer days selling tickets! 
